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Deep-sea explorer finds adorable ghost octopus

Imagine the spirit that would waft through an octopus graveyard, but cuter. That’s basically what a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) caught on camera last week 4290 meters below the Hawaiian ocean, Scientific American reports. Nicknamed “Casper” for obvious reasons, the octopus is almost certainly a new species, and possibly a new genus, researchers say. The diaphanous white mollusk is shaped like common shallow-water species, but members of this group have never been found before at such depths. Instead, past deep-sea expeditions have found “dumbo” octopuses flapping through the inky blackness with ear-like fins.